The Post-Credits Scenes in 'Deadpool 2' Were Almost Even More Brutal
In 2015, New York Times Magazine held a poll on Twitter asking readers about the ethics of killing a baby Adolf Hitler. It actually became a huge philosophical debate on the internet. Now, in 2018, Deadpool kills baby Hitler in a deleted post-credits scene from Deadpool 2.
Minor spoilers for Deadpool 2 ahead.
On Wednesday, screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese revealed to Uproxx that the filmmakers wrote and shot a post-credits scene where Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) killed an infant Adolf Hitler. The scene was meant to cap off Deadpool’s time-traveling efforts of righting wrongs in history, like killing his X-Men Origins self and making sure Green Lantern never happened. But, the Hitler scene was removed based on a negative reaction from test audiences.
“Deadpool goes back and kills baby Hitler at the very end,” Reese confirmed to Uproxx. “That’s what was supposed to happen.”
Wernick then added: “And not just supposed to happen, we shot it.”
Not only was the scene shot, it actually made it to a test screening where it tested negatively. “We shot it and we put it in front of an audience. He’s got the crib and he’s standing in the German nursery and he’s leaning over the crib to do it and there was kind of this, ‘ohhhhh,’” Reese said. “And we thought we don’t want to leave the crowd on an ‘ohhhhh.’ So it ended up coming out.”
As Reese describes it, the scene has Deadpool uttering his catchphrase — “Maximum effort!” — before “he goes in to throttle the baby.”
“It does make you squeamish,” he added.
Ryan Reynolds and David Leitch, on the set of 'Deadpool 2.'
Although it is extremely on-brand for Deadpool to kill baby Hitler, and the scene’s inclusion would have been such a dark gag that would satisfy Deadpool’s most hardcore fans, the filmmakers made a smart call. The included post-credits scenes were enough, comedically, and it’s a relief the internet isn’t resurrecting those Baby Hitler debates any time soon.
But when it comes to hurting Nazis, Deadpool is on the money.
For what it’s worth, 42 percent of Times readers polled said they’d kill Baby Hitler. Meanwhile, 30 percent said no, and 28 percent said “Not sure.” This just means that 58 percent of people don’t think like Deadpool, which might be a relief.
Deadpool 2 is in theaters now.
